does anyone give garage sale gifts?

[blessedby3]

I would have no problem with this...and have done it myself for my own children. We get most of dd5's toys from Goodwill. Just today we bought 3 small dinosaur figures for 50 cents a piece and a dinosaur book for 50 cents (she had recently gotten interested in dinosaurs...dont know how long that interest will last, so Goodwill is a great place to take care of that!)
I would not purchase gifts for relatives or the kids friends secondhand or at a yardsale, Goodwill, etc. Only my own kids and we do it often!
My dad and Dh's mom ask me to buy the kids Christmas gifts every year. I have found some things at the Goodwill in the past to give them from the grandparents...and the grandparents have never even realized it Works for me!

 

[Suz D]

I wouldn't hesitate. Our daughter's birthday falls right around Thanksgiving. For her 4th BD I went to Goodwill after Halloween and bought tons of costumes (lots of Disney Princess ones YAY!), accessories, hats, capes, etc. i spent about $40 and most things were $1-3. We put them in a fun big box and she LOVED that gift. Nine years after that we adopted our youngest after being her foster parents for two years so we have nearly 11 years between our two girls. I kept the costumes thinking we'd probably have Grandchilden eventually. Our now six year old has gotten years of enjoyment out of that same $40 investment and I'm still keeping most of them for grand kids.

 

[kayrosek]

Yes I did when they were little. Still do some now, although the type of gifts have changed radically. When my son turned one he was obsessed with Barney and we were broke. I found a very cute Barney playhouse/schoolhouse at a garage sale and looked everywhere for a barney figure to fit it. I finally found one for like $5 and he loved it. The total for the gift was around $7 but he didn't know that and it was one of his favorite toys for a very long time. The thing had a handle and he would shove Barney in it, close it and carry it around everywhere. This last year that same son got a garage sale gift as one of his "big" Christmas gifts and he was just as enamored with it. I bought someones full collection of football cards and put them in plastic covers in a binder. The book was full and he still got a half full card box to fill another book (or two) with. That gift cost less than $25 but he definitely din't know that or care for that matter. My girls didn't get garage sale gifts this year but my oldest got a new with tags pair of jeans and top from a consignment store we frequent. I needed another gift for her and she didn't really need new clothes so I came up with some excuse not to buy it for her when she found it. She was impressed that I remembered and happy to get it. My kids really don't care as long as they get what they like.

 

[englishteacha]

My one year old daughter's birthday presents are all secondhand! She won't care that her big box of blocks or her bin of Little People are previously loved. I washed them all thoroughly. Most of her clothes are secondhand, too. She's darn cute in her hand-me-downs, too!

 

[plummer925]

I gift things that I buy at garage sales and Goodwill, all the time. I'm frugal, not cheap. Items that I gift are gotten with the recipient in mind, not bought "just because". For instance - my sister-in-law loves making candles. I pick her up used wax and used molds whenever I see them. She loves it. Sure, I could buy it new (and I have, with coupons!), but she gets a LOT more if I buy "used".

I hardly ever buy children's books new (though I made an exception at Christmas - I looked for a year for "Snowy Day" and "The Mysterious Tadpole" for my nephews and finally bought from Amazon because it was important for me to give them my two favorite children's books!).

I'd rather get a thoughtful used gift than a new gift that someone picked up because they felt obligated.

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

Not really a garage sale, but I buy my kids stuff from Vintage Stock all the time. Used dvd's and video games. They could care less that they are used, and LOVE getting gift cards to there. Same difference to me!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I thought about this thread yesterday - I was in the thrift store on Friday and got a pair of brand new earrings, still on the package, with their original tags for $2. The original price was well blacked out, but I found the exact earrings for sale yesterday on Amazon for $20.

So instead of keeping the earrings for myself (my original plan) they are now a Christmas present for one of the dear relations; they are just her style and quite lovely.

 

[swilshire]

I bought a ton of toys for my 1 year old son at a garage sale I was thinking about giving him some toys for Christmas and his birthday. Is that to cheep?

1 year olds will like the wrapped boxes better than the toys anyway. I've raised four kids on yard sale gifts. They are now 27, 25, 19 and 14 and I still find something for them from time to time at a yard sale. I even find things for my new son-in-law and always have bought things for my husband at sales. They similarly find things for me at sales that I enjoy.

Sheila